The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 105 Lychee

After arriving home, Chen Cui prepared dinner first. After the family had dinner, she began to deal with the things she bought that day.

Today at Baiguofang, she finally saw lychees from Shuzhong, which cost thirty cents per pound.

Chen Cui spent money to buy six kilograms and a few kilograms of apricots.

Of course, her money was not wasted, as she asked the waiter to give her half a basin of ice to keep the lychees fresh.

He also found out that the county magistrate's wife's surname was Zhang, and that her favorite fruit was lychee.

To this end, Mrs. Zhang spared no effort in manpower and material resources to transport lychees produced in her own garden from hundreds of miles away to Yinping County, just for the fresh taste.

Chen Cui could imagine that in such a hot day, if one wanted to transport lychees from Shuzhong without changing color or taste, the cost must be extremely high, and the freight might even far exceed the value of the lychees themselves.

Originally, she wanted to take the canned cherries to meet the owner of Baiguofang and then discuss cooperation.

But when she knew this, she changed her mind.

Chen Cui planned to make a few jars of canned lychees. By the time they were done, the lychee season would probably be almost over. She would then take the canned lychees to ask for a meeting with Mrs. Zhang.

According to Boss Chu, Mrs. Zhang has no children, but her husband's eldest daughter is about to turn one year old.

If the county magistrate really respected his wife, he would not have let the illegitimate children be born first. It can be seen that Mrs. Zhang, who is rich and has a high status, also has some unsatisfactory life.

Chen Cui first gave two lychees to each of the children, told them how to eat them, and then started to make canned lychees.

This time, with previous successful experience and the help of a few children, things went much easier.

Chang Fu smelled the aroma of lychees in syrup and couldn't help licking his lips: "These lychees are already so delicious, I wonder how delicious they will be if they are canned?!"

Changan swallowed and glanced at his brother: "Come on, don't keep thinking about eating. Mother made this for a very useful purpose."

At this point, he had already understood that his mother made canned food not on a whim as a snack for them, but to increase the family's financial resources.

Looking at his mother's hair soaked with sweat and her almost wet back, Chang'an's eyes became a little blurry.

If they didn't all need to study and the family expenses weren't high, Mom wouldn't have to work so hard.

Other women in the village were considered hardworking and virtuous as long as they cooked, did housework and took care of children at home. But my mother not only had to do these things, but also had to work hard outside to make money for the family.

Mother has done so much for them. If he can't read well, it would be a shame to her good intentions.

Changping finally coaxed Suisui to sleep and came to the kitchen to help. He just happened to see Changan rubbing the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

"What's wrong?" Changping asked his brother softly.

Changan tried to calm down and speak normally: "It's okay, sweat dripped into my eyes and it stung. I wiped it with my sleeve."

Seeing this, Changping did not ask any further questions.

Chang'an was originally a dull person, and only became more lively after his family's life got better. There are some things he doesn't want to talk about, so there is no need to ask about them.

Besides, my younger brother is grown up now and has his own ideas. There is no need to ask him about everything.

After the canned food was ready, Chen Cui saw that the children were almost the same as her, all sweaty, so she added some cold water into the pot again and asked them to take a basin to take a bath.

Now, under the leadership of Chen Cui, each family member has his or her own basin and towel, takes a bath every day, washes his or her hair every few days, and cleans their teeth with willow twigs every morning and evening.

In the past, the brothers were used to being sloppy and had poor hygiene habits. They found it troublesome to wash their feet every night, let alone take a bath every day.

They felt that their mother's request of them was too cumbersome. Although they did as asked, they were somewhat perfunctory when washing and often did it in a hurry.

But after going to school, they saw that all their classmates were well-dressed and spoke fluently, and they couldn't help feeling ashamed of themselves.

Especially Mr. Chu. Even in such a hot day, not only did he not have any sweat odor, he even had a faint fragrance. This made them all feel ashamed, and they began to pay attention to their personal hygiene.

The three brothers have now formed a habit of taking a bath very carefully every day, even under the neck, behind the ears and armpits, striving to make themselves clean.

When it is really hot, the three of them will take a shower early in the morning to remove the sweat smell from their bodies.

Of course, Chen Cui would not let them take a shower with cold water. She would mix it with hot water before pouring it over their bodies.

After taking a shower and changing clothes, the summer heat gradually subsided, and the three brothers took this time before going to bed to review their lessons.

Chen Cui washed all the clothes that the family had taken off, and hung them on the line in the yard before returning home.

It’s hot now, and summer clothes are thin, so they will be almost dry overnight and will not be too hard to wear tomorrow.

In July, the sun during the day was as hot as fire, and the ground was cracked by the heat.

There was only a light rain in the whole of June, and the crops in the fields wilted due to lack of water.

Everyone in the village was frowning. It should have been the rainy season, but God just refused to rain. It was going to be very hard for those who were farming!

Just when everyone was about to start fetching water to irrigate the fields, it suddenly started raining, and it lasted for five days.

During these five days, the rain was sometimes heavy and sometimes light. When it was heavy, it was like a downpour; when it was light, it was like silver threads floating down from the sky, but it almost never stopped.

The way the rain was falling made everyone worried.

Someone went into the fields in the rain to check and found that water had begun to accumulate in the low-lying areas, and the roots of the half-high bean seedlings were submerged and could not be seen.

Chen Cui also put on a raincoat made of oilcloth and went to the fields to check on the corn from her own family and Muramasa's family.

Fortunately, the several acres of land owned by her family are on relatively high ground, so there is not much water accumulation. The same is true for Muramasa's family. But if the land goes down further, it would be hard to say.

The temperature dropped after the rain, and it became cooler in the mornings and evenings.

Chen Cui lowered the tarpaulin from the car again and surrounded the compartment tightly to prevent rain from entering.

The children were happy about the cool weather at first, but later they realized something was wrong.

"Mom, will this rain have any harm to our corn?" Changping asked.

"It's okay for now. Our home is located at high altitude and there's not much water stored there," Chen Cui comforted.

But corn is drought-resistant but not water-resistant. If it continues to rain, the yield will definitely decrease.

Alas, this is the first year that corn is planted in the village. I originally wanted to take good care of it and get a high yield so that I can promote it vigorously in the future.

If the harvest this year is not satisfactory and there is no particularly big advantage, it will be difficult to get others to plant it again in the future!

Just when Chen Cui was worrying about why the rain continued, a turning point suddenly came.